Kelowna cougar sightings not cause for panic, conservation officer says

Sighting of a cougar prowling around a residential area in Kelowna, B.C., is not cause for widespread panic, an Okanagan conservation officer says.

“Most of the sightings have been during the night time, early morning and it’s a low concern for the conservation service, because they are exhibiting some natural behaviours,” Hailey Gooliaff, a BC Conservation Officer, said.

That natural behaviour includes feeding on deer,  and in one case, a raccoon.  Gooliaff said the sightings indicate it’s a younger cougar that keeps being in the area and that is normal as well.

“After they leave the mother, they will go and look for their own territory in an area,” she said.

“So sometimes those areas might be, you know, a bit closer to town than most people would like to see but they’re just trying to find the area where they could find deer (and) other prey sources.”

Gooliaff stressed that the cougar hasn’t shown any aggressive behaviour and it hasn’t threatened pets, let alone humans.

“We live in an area that does have lots of wildlife present,” she said.

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“Everyone gets to see the deer around town, and cougars, they do eat deer. When we have a lot of deer around town, it might bring cougars into town.”

Humans, she noted, are not a natural food source for cougars.

“We don’t match their prey profile, so cougar attacks on people are extremely low,” she said.

“It’s not something that, you know, everyone needs to be concerned about in the situation.”

Cougars don’t tend to attack humans. The last fatal human cougar attack in all of B.C. was in 1996 in Princeton. That said, there’s nothing wrong with some cautious behaviour.

“When you’re dropping your kids off, make sure they’re getting into school, walking in groups,” she said.

“And then for pets, just make sure that if you’re out walking, make sure your pets on a leash and keep them inside at nighttime.”